Strictly is well and truly back! We were treated
to not one but two helpings of dance floor action to kick of this series and it
didn’t disappoint. The good, the bad and the well… you know, were out in full
force. Perfect.
Friday’s show did feel slightly like the warm up
for the main event, however a few gems did emerge. Bruce of the other hand,
someone may have left him on charge a little too long. Pleasantries over, time
to take to the floor.
Ashley Taylor Dawson and Ola Jordan
Cha Cha to ‘What
Makes You Beautiful’ by One Direction.
From pop star, to soap star, to dance star?
Ashley will certainly be hoping so. Despite appearing confident as he stepped
onto the floor, there were moments where he did lack synchronization and
sharpness. He does have rhythm and therefore potential but he needs to work on
his footwork and hip action. An ok first dance, despite the ‘faces’ and as
Craig said Ashley is rather easy on the eye so our female Strictly bloggers are
certainly looking forward to seeing him improve week after week, we just hope
all his commitments (including a new addition – congratulations on the baby boy
Ashley) don’t exhaust him too much.
Scored | 25 |
Our Score | 6 |
Tony Jacklin and Aliona Vilani
Waltz to ‘What’ll
I Do’ by Alison Krauss.
Before we even got to the dancing we’d had enough
of the golf based jokes, just incase you hadn’t caught on, Tony is a golfer and
its only a matter of time until we’re ‘treated’ to a FOUR joke. He descended
down the stairs with a suitcase arriving at ‘Platform 10’ and the end of dance
sees Tony picking up the suitcase and leaving as if never to be seen again… bye
Tony. There was lots of gapping and as Craig commented it was littered with
errors not at all what a Waltz should be. There were however brief glimpses of
elegance we managed to spot in amongst our yawns. We wonder if his Latin will
be better…?
Scored | 16 |
Our Score | 4 |
Mark Benton and Iveta Lukosiute
Tango to ‘Hernando’s
Way’ by Alma Cogan
Great music choice, we’ll assume it was Iveta and
hand her all the credit. Mark was dressed up as a ‘thief’. As part of the
routine was a prop in form of a ‘diamond necklace’. The set up screamed ‘comedy’
and with Marks past comedic role you’d be forgiven for thinking he was going to
be this years joke act, not so. He was in character, and had a classic ‘tango
face’. His movement as sharp, and he displayed some good footwork. Mark was a
real surprise and we’re looking forward to seeing what is next.
Scored | 24 |
Our Score | 6 |
Susanna Reid and Kevin Clifton
Jive to ‘Shake
Your Tailfeather’ by Blues Brothers.
Ok we admit it, we’re slightly in love with
Kevin, but you can’t blame us.
The jive is one of the hardest dances to do let
alone in the first week of the series however Susanna and Kevin kicked the it
off to a fine start. Fast and furious, with a bounty of energy. Kevin’s
choreography was intense and Susanna coped with it wonderfully. A slightly
clumsy end with a topsy-turvy cartwheel that didn’t go quite well but it’s one
of those things that can happen. Overall, a very good performance by Susanna
for her first dance followed by a standing ovation – the first of the series!
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Brendan Cole
Waltz to ‘Moon
River’ by Audrey Hepburn
Cue lots of puns about ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’...
Actually so far, that hasn’t been overplayed... YET! We love it when they
perform to a song perfectly suited to their dance and there is no greater
storyteller than Brendan Cole. They danced beautifully in a charming way,
moving across the floor with grace and elegance, the perfect pairing. She just
needs to be a bit more fluid as she came across rather stiff in places – most
of this was probably just due to nerves though. She could also do with
improving her top line. Otherwise, a lovely first effort.
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Natalie Gumede and Artem Chigvintsev
Cha Cha to
‘Rasputin’ by Boney M
NIPPLE ALERT (expect a lot of these tweets
whenever Artem graces our screens) Ra Ra Rasputin… this song is still firmly
etched in our humming bank. Who’d have prediction a Russian influenced Cha Cha
would be so great. An amazing first dance from Natalie. Not technically
perfect, but close, she just screams dancer. The sky’s the limit for these two.
Scored | 31 |
Our Score | 8 |
An excellent first night, all the couples did
themselves proud and managed to do a
fine job despite any first night nerves. Natalie & Artem certainly
set the bar high for the next batch…
A Fantastic pro dance kicked off part 2 of
Strictly week 1, definitely our favourite of the series so far. Bruce has been
on charge again although seemed slightly more on form than the previous night,
introductions over, time to take to the floor…
Ben Cohen and Kristina Rihanoff
Cha Cha to ‘Love
Me Again’ by John Newman
Initially expecting to see great performance from
Ben but was a bit disappointed. He started out fine but soon got a bit nervous
and out of sync. He has all the ingredients to do well, apart from rhythm that
is, but he was fairly on beat so all hope is not lost. Thankfully he has the
wonderful teacher that is Kristina in his corner so as long as he does as he’s
told, loosens up a little (a lot) and builds on his confidence he could have a
real ‘journey’. All in all, lots of work to be done to improve, but a competent
first effort from Ben.
Scored | 19 |
Our Score | 5 |
Fiona Fullerton and Anton Du Beke
Tango to ‘View
To A Kill’ by Duran Duran
I really do hope they don’t overuse the Bond
cliché, as I’m sure there is a lot more to Fiona than that. However, as it was
the first week, it was expected. View To A Kill? More like View To Overkill!
Typical Anton VT. The content of this Tango was amazing and the
characterisation was spot on. Finally Anton has a partner that has some talent
and can actually dance. Fiona fared well – her movement was crisp and sharp,
with some good kicks. There was a lot of passion and strength. Time for Anton
to show us what he’s made of…
Scored | 24 |
Our Score | 6 |
Dave Myers and Karen Hauer
Cha Cha to ‘Moves
Like Jagger’ by Maroon 5
Erm, umm, yeah… we loved it. We love him. We want
more. It’s so wrong, it’s right. It’s obvious these two are a well-matched
pairing in terms of personality/humour – he’s extremely funny, and she’s a
crazy cat! As he said, he’s enjoying the ‘strictlyfication’ – even though he
did feel his dancing style was ‘dad dancing mixed with a gyrating troll’! The
dance, which was supposed to be a cha cha, started with Karen as the DJ in the
club, and Dave calling her over to dance with him. From then on, all we saw was
possibly one of the funniest things ever on TV. He may not have the ‘Moves Like
Jagger’ – but he gave it a fantastic try, and what he does have in spades is
enthusiasm. Our favourite part was near the end when he just gave up on
choreographed moves and just jumped around on the spot. We’d rather see someone
who made an impression good or bad, than somebody who barely moved and was just
OK.
Score | 16 |
Our Score | 5 | (10 for everything other than the
dancing)
Rachel Riley and Pasha Kovalev
Waltz to ‘When I
Need You’ by Luther Vandross
Our only male Strictly blogger is quite the fan
of Rachel. Another dancing beauty for Pasha, what a lucky boy. There was a
certain amount of gracefulness as she waltzes round the dance floor with Pasha.
. This Waltz was beautiful and Rachel was every bit the English rose. Her arms
flailed a little so her extensions need some work and it lacked a little bit on
the emotion side but as Louis Smith proved last year that should improve as the
weeks fly by. Overall, a lovely first effort
Scored | 27 |
Our Score | 7 |
Julien Macdonald and Janette Manrara
Cha Cha to
‘Vogue’ by Madonna
Julien is already well known to a lot of Strictly
fans due to his It Takes Two role talking about the costumes – where he could
be found screaming about sparkles and godettes a lot. Judging by the VT, it
seems that this will be a theme throughout his time on the show. Their cha cha
to Vogue (what else?!) was camp, and full of energy, albeit slightly misused –
exactly what you’d expect from self named Team Sparkle. However, Julien seemed
wooden for the most part, with little hip movement. Hopefully he’ll shine in
hold on his ballroom.
Scored | 20 |
Our Score | 4 |
Deborah Meaden and Robin Windsor
Tango to ‘Money
Money Money’ by Abba
This Tango started really well. Was pleasantly
surprised by Deborah, she can actually move! Her facial expressions as she
danced were perfect, and she showed some great footwork.. Although she started
well, it got a little messy in the middle, she did have a good hold and danced
around the floor in a clean way. Loved the ending – ‘we’re in’!
Scored | 24 |
Our Score | 6 |
Patrick Robinson and Anya Garnis
Jive to ‘Runaway
Baby’ by Bruno Mars
Not bad at all considering the Jive is one of the
hardest to master. We weren’t sure what to expect from Patrick coming into this
first week, but he showed real energy, promise and he had the spirit of the
dance. He has quite good rhythm in his body and his kicks and flicks were good
for just a few weeks training. Not quite on par with Kevin and Susanne but a
great debut. Patrick lacked in technique but the attitude and enthusiasm was
there.
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Vannesa Feltz and James Jordan
Cha Cha to ‘That
Don’t Impress Me Much’ by Shania Twain
Some of the steps were pretty good, and she had
great ‘armography’. However, you could tell she was desperately trying to
remember some of the moves – which seemed to affect her, as she had a bit of a
wobble, and lost it a little from then on. For the song and theme, she needed
to be the Vanessa people think she is, with lots of attitude – yet she failed
to deliver on that. We did see a glimmer of potential out there Saturday night!
Yes, there was way too much acting and posturing but she did what she was
asked, did all her steps. Dance content needs to be higher, but she has
something to work on now, there are positives. Lets hope James Jordans, Artem
impression will be enough to bring in those votes.
Scored | 19 |
Our Score | 5 |
Abbey Clancy and Aljaz Skorjanec
Waltz to ‘Kissing
You’ by Des’ree
Quite possibly our favourite of the opening week,
the producers certainly saved one of the best until last. We must admit we
weren’t expecting Abbey to be as great as she was, a wonderful surprise. Everything
that a Waltz should be. Beautiful. Elegant. Moving. Fantastic choreography by
newcomer Alijaz. The emotion was plain to see and complimented her technical
ability perfectly. If her Latin is anywhere on par the A Team are definitely
contenders.
Scored | 32 | 1st Place.
Our Score | 8 |
Overall a fantastic opening this year, several
couples are already showing they’re the ones to watch, a few with real
potential for dramatic improvement, one with a whole lot of laughs and a couple
we won’t miss too much. All the ingredients for a great series!
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